Melbourne Victory

Lawrence Thomas - 6

Wasn’t involved in the first half, bar keeping big when one-on-one with an offside Adam le Fondre. Had little to do in the second either, but was slightly at fault for Sydney FC’s sole goal, unable to get more power on the parry.

Storm Roux - 7

Solid passing and threatening forward runs helped keep Victory with the momentum, even when Sydney began to hit back.

Corey Brown - 8

Very adept defending and starred in Victory’s high-press, making plenty of interceptions to keep Melbourne on the front foot.

Thomas Deng - 7

Solid all round with some nifty passes out of defence and a few fakes chucked in there for good measure.

Leigh Broxham - 8

Great awareness, pushed forward to pressure Sydney’s attackers in midfield. Does a fantastic job as a makeshift centreback.

Carl Valeri - 8

He wasn’t as involved in an attacking sense, accounting for little possession as Victory tended to bypass him down the flanks. He began to exert more influence as Victory began defending.

Raúl Baena - 8

Very aggressive, purposefully niggling and tugging at Milos Ninkovic far up the pitch to try to dissuade the Serbian.

James Troisi - 7

Wasteful in dangerous situations, with more than his fair share of disappointing passes in the first half but hit back with a vengeance in the second, scoring what ultimately became the winner.

Terry Antonis - 8

Fantastic crossing, great ability to push wide and transition play across multiple positions. Offers Victory incredible flexibility – y’know, the sort of flexibility that may have been useful when Tom Rogic was suspended this morning. Anyway.

Ola Toivonen - 8

A genuinely unstoppable free-kick. He is a challenger for best player in the competition this season, which is remarkable given his laid-back style and big-man approach. Would be a 9 but he tired awfully towards the end.

Kosta Barbarouses - 7

Quiet performance, didn’t offer anything exciting going forward in the first half but crafted some mazy runs in the second.

Subs

Elvis Kamsoba – 7

He offers creativity and spontaneity, which is an excellent attribute off the bench. Good enough to start? Probably not yet.

Kenny Athiu – 7

Very similar to Kamsoba, but replace creativity with physicality and spontaneity with rough tackles.

Anthony Lesiotis – 6

Any Gunners fans out there, think Matteo Guendouzi without the tight ‘fro. Not on for long enough to rate fairly, however.

Sydney FC

Andrew Redmayne - 6

Could do nothing for Toivionen’s goal, nor much about Troisi’s deflected second. Came up good when Athiu was clean through in the dying minutes though.

Aaron Calver - 7

He did his very best to restrain Antonis when the midfielder pushed down the left side, given the largess of his task in accounting for Antonis, Brown and even Toivonen at times, his performance was admirable.

Michael Zullo - 6

Not quite as impactful as Sydney would have hoped.

Alex Wilkinson - 6

Had his hands full with Toivonen, providing mixed results. Overly physical and ended up a humiliated bully at times. Not exactly what you’d expect from a former Socceroo.

Ben Warland - 7

An impressive opening 15 minutes in particular, staying strong throughout the first half and putting in a decent shift overall.

Joshua Brillante - 6

Often caught in two minds and while he helped stabilise Sydney as the Sky Blues worked their way back into the match, he wasn’t on the same level as Victory’s midfield.

Paulo Retre - 6

While he offered a consistent outlet down Sydney’s right side, it was often simplistic. Short passes to Le Fondre largely served only to draw the striker into ineffectual positions. His final product wasn’t good enough either.

Brandon O'Neill - 6

Couldn’t impress himself on proceedings. He’s been quiet in quite a few recent matches, allowing himself to lose possession too easily.

Milos Ninkovic - 7

A few decent chances as he hustled and bustled his way into attacking situations. He was dropping very deep – never a good sign – so he managed to cover a lot of kilometres rather than expend that energy on defence-splitting passes. In the second half he emerged a far more convincing marquee and deserved his goal, excellently taken.

Adam Le Fondre - 6

Blasted one off the crossbar from an offside position and recycled possession well on occasion, but couldn’t offer enough going forward.

Daniel De Silva - 6

Arguably Sydney’s most disappointing in the first half due to his imperceptible impact.

Subs

Luke Ivanovic – 8

Sydney’s brightest spark in the second half, making a huge impact.

Charles Lokoli-Ngoy – 6

Couldn’t change things for the better.